Steam actuated valve



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

A. BALL.

STEAM AGTUATED VALVE. No. 396,643. Patented Jan. 22, 1889.

WITNESSES INVENTVUR 1 M w HUM/JV al/L Q V W (No Model.)

A? BALL.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

STEAM AGTUATED VALVE.

Patented Jan. 22, 1889.

WITNESSES MM/K '3 y INVENTUR 6mm @AJL steam-chest and valve-chest.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

ALBERT BALL, OF CLAREMONT, NElV HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGN OR TO THE SUL- LIVAN MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

STEAM-ACTUATED VALVE. e

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,643, dated January 22, 1889.

Application filed May 11, 1887.

To all 1071,0722 it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT BALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Claremont, in the county of Sullivan and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam Actuated Valves; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in the manner of applying and exhausting the steam (or equivalent motive power) in a direct-acting engine, and of operating and regulating the valves therefor for use in working stone-cutting machines for channeling.

My objects are to better regulate the speed and force of blows given, to provide cushions in the engine, thereby preventing breakages and jars, and to economize steam. The engine in question is designed especially for use in connection with gang-drill stone-channeling machines. In this use the blows require proper regulation, and great strains have to be guarded against. In this use generally a heavy weight of drills, in addition to that of the piston and clamp, has to be raised, while this weight is itself more than enough for the blow, which is directly up and down. In other cases, where the cut is at an angle or horizontal, the drills may require to be driven by great force of steam.

For a more thorough understanding of the invention attention is invited to the accompanying drawings, wherein like letters or figures apply to the same parts, and wherein Figure 1 is a central longitudinal sectional view of the engine. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the same, (at the point 00', see Figs. 1, 5, and 6,) with the piston at the place shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end view (from the right) of the cylinder, steam-chest, and valvechest, with the heads removed. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the steam-chest with the balanced valves removed and with a different form of steam-connection from that shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a top view of the Fig. 6 is the cylinder with the valve-chest removed at as, (see Serial No. 237,858. (No model.)

Figs. 2 and 3,) so as to show the severalsteamports. Fig. 7 is the piston with the several openings.

A is the cylinder, and E the piston.

B is the steam-chest,.with regulating-valvcs H H to the inlet-ports.

C is one cylinder-head, and D is the other, through which latter the piston-rod works.

F F are the headsto valve-chest.

G G are the double-balanced valves.

L is the connection between said valves.

R is the exhaust-opening.

Q Q are cushions to balanced valves, and P P are speed-regulators to balanced valves.

I Iare steam-inlet ports, and J J are exhaust-ports to cylinder, and K K are the inlets to balanced valves.

M is the exhaust-gate, N the exhaust-gate stem, and O the stuffing-box to latter.

8, If, r, 10,1 and 2, Figs. 5 and 6, are theholes for the bolts which secure the valve-chest to the cylinder, and ,2 c, Fig. 3, and y t, Fig. 2, four of the six bolts in question.

Figs. 1 to 9, inclusive, show the system of ports and openings for operating the doublebalaneed valve. 1 is the inlet-port. 2 is the opening in the piston which brings the inletport 1 into connection with the port 3 to and from the lower end of valve, (right hand, as shown in cut.) 4 is the opening in piston. which brings the port 5 to and from the up per end of valve (left hand, as shown in cut) into connection with its exhaust-port 6. 7 is the exhaust-port for the lower end of valve, which is brought into connection with the port 3 by the opening in piston 9. 8 the opening in piston which brings the inlet-port 1 into connect-ion with the port 5.

To drive the engine, I make use of two independent inlet-ports, each regulated, and also two independent exhaust-ports, one of which is regulated. The advantage of having two inlet-ports for this special engine is that I can thereby adjust easily the amount of steam delivered at either end of the cylinder to the amount of work to be done by it. The valve H determines the amount of steam. which is. to pass through the portl and drive the piston carrying the drills to deliver their blow. This port I having done its work, is

closed and the port I is opened by movement of the balanced valves, while the exhaust J is opened by the movement of the piston. The 'alve H supplies the steam, which is to pass through the port I and force the piston up, this movement of the piston in due time opening the exhaust J.

Other valves could be used directly in the inlet-ports to do the work of II and II, so as to be their equivalents; but I prefer this simple method.

Just as soon as the piston in its movement downward or forward passes, thereby closing the exhaust J, the steam that is left in the cylinder acts as a cushion and prevents the jar or breakage to the cylinder-head should the rock not be hit as intended. If the distance of the cylinder from the rock is such i the rock be not reached till the piston. is near the cylinder-head, the blow will be very light. With this arrangement I can therefore adjust the force of the blows by moving the cylinder toward or from the rock.

I have an additional method of regulating the blow, which is valuable either by itself or as an addition to that just mentioned, as follows: I make use of a gate, M, in connection with the exhaust J This is easily worked from the outside by the stem N. 3y partially closing this gate the escape of the steam is proportionally retarded and the force of the blow correspondingly diminished; but in neither case, it will be observed, is the return to its starting-point of the piston after the blow is given in any way retarded.

The gate M- being in the exhaust-port, and not in the inlet-port, the steam comes into the cylinder from the reverse movem ent perfectl y free and just as quickly as where no controlling-valves are used in the steam-ports. I place no regulating-gate in the exhaust J, so as to give free escape for the (XllrlllSESlJGfLIll on the upward or return movement of the piston until the exhaust-port is passed. In order to retain in the cylinder (as a cushion to receive the upward blow of the piston) the steam that is therein after the exhaust-port is closed, I have devised the use, at the port I in the wall of the cylinder, of a common form of check-valve, V, Figs. 1 and 6. This allows free inlet, but prevents exit, and works very satisfactorily. It will be seen that valves can be used in all or any of these inlet or exhaust ports to effect the movements of the piston but I prefer to control the steam be fore it comes to the inlet-ports or to the balance-valves that regulate the movement of the piston. One great advantage of this method of having two exhaust-ports independent of the inlet-ports is that the piston can move freely through a portion of its stroke and then be cushioned to prevent the striking of the cylinder-heads, as I have before shown; and yet, again, that the exhaust can be regulated without interfering with the inlets. The double-balanced piston-valves, having their working parts located at each end of the valve-chest, further economize steam by giving the shortest and most direct ports to the cylinder that are possible. These double balanced piston-valves are moved by steam taken to them by the port 1, and which is controlled by the cavities in the piston. The steam passes through the port 1, then through cavity 2 in the piston into port 3 to the righthand end of valve, and thereupon moves the piston-valves across the ports of the main cylinder, both inlet and exhaust, thereby changing the movement of the piston and bringing under the inlet-port 1 the cavity 8 and under.

the exhaust-port 7 the cavity 9. This allows the steam to pass through the port 5 to the left-hand end of valve, while the steam is being exhausted from the right-hand end through port 3, cavity 9, and exhaust-port 7. It will be seen that these movements of steam drive the valve to and fro with a motion reverse to that of the piston.

At each end of the valve-chest there is a projection, Q, on each of the chest-heads,which is a little smaller than the cupped end of the valve G. This forms asteam-cushion and prevents a blow or jar.

To regulate the speed of the engine, I regulate the flow of the steam in the valve-ports by the two screws P P. Bysecuring them in the ports are more or less closed and the steam cannot move so rapidly, and the speed of the valves is reduced, and this in turn makes the piston have a correspon din gly-rapid movement, and the drill gives quick sharp blows.

To more clearly show the manner in which these screws I work I have drawn Fig. 5, showing one corner of the valve-chest broken. The screws are back and the port 3 at P wide open. It will be seen that the port will be closed more and more as the screw P is driven As shown in the drawings, the steam for operatin g the valves is taken from the chamber K, supplied through the valve II.

It is obvious that in case it should, for any reason, be desirable to shut the steam wholly from that end of the cylinder the steam can be drawn direct from the steam-pipe, instead of through either valve H H, and in such case can .be regulated by the third valve.

Compressed air or other equivalent can be used in place of steam.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. The combination, in a direct-acting engine, of the cylinder A, steam-chest B,piston E, double-balanced valves G G, steam-inlet ports I I, steam-exhaust ports J J, and handvalves ll H in said steam-inlet ports above said double-balanced valves, so that the supply of steam to either end of said cylinder may be regulated before passing through said double-balanced valves, substantially as described.

2. In a direct-acting engine, the combination of the piston provided with two inletpockets, 2 and 8, and the exhaustpockets 4 and 9, the double-balanced steam-actuated valves to regulate the movements of said piston, and steam-passages 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 to and from said pockets and valves and entirely separate and independent from the main steam-passage, substantially as described.

3. In a direct-acting engine, the combination of the piston provided with two inletpockets, 2 and 8, and with two exhaust-pockets, 4 and 9, the double-balanced steam-actw ated valves to regulate the movements of said piston, steam-passages l, 3, 5, 6, and 7 to and from said pockets and said valves and entirely separate and independent from the main steam-passage of the engine, and speed-regulators P, which control the quantity of steam passing through the passages 3 and 5 to and from said double-balanced valves, substantially as described.

4. The combination, in a direct-acting engine, of the cylinder A, double-balanced valves G G, piston E, steam-inlet ports I l, steamexhaust ports J J, and the gate M in the exhaust-port J, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination, in a direct-acting engine, with the cylinder A and do uble-balanced valves G G, of the piston E, provided with pockets or concavities therein and entirely independent and separate from each other, for the purpose set forth, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses. ALBERT BALL.

Vitnesses:

GEORGE 0. BALL, FRANK A. BALL. 

